All Ireland League

I for one think this would be an absolute disaster. They are not as good as us for a start and travel costs would be catastrophic for the smaller clubs. Would a second division be started with the increased number of teams? If so I wouldnt even punish somebody by going to watch that rubbish. Look at the lower divisions in Scotland, they are an absolute joke.


Do we also want all that rubbish some of their teams would inevitably bring with them. No thanks. Look at this for an example: Linfield vs. Rovers - 20,000 crowd swelled by local nationalists and loyalist . Game over 2-1 to either side and there is a riot. Not what we would like to go to see at any game and would hardly be endearing for the popularity of the league.


Derry must be counting their lucky stars they managed to avoid that bog hole of a league.

ive never seen any of those irish league teams play, so ive no idea what theyre like. my uninformed opinion is

i agree. especially with summer soccer. imagine one of those games on the 12th of july

the cost of policin wud cripple it i rekon. they'd bring union jacks and we'd bring tricolours and it wud all get horribly sectarian

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Originally posted by yur man
ive never seen any of those irish league teams play, so ive no idea what theyre like. my uninformed opinion is

i agree. especially with summer soccer. imagine one of those games on the 12th of july

the cost of policin wud cripple it i rekon. they'd bring union jacks and we'd bring tricolours and it wud all get horribly sectarian

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Sounds like Celtic v Rangers.

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Originally posted by Real ale Madrid
Sounds like Celtic v Rangers.

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Exactly, thats what it would turn into. I was talking a guy in Tenerife from Glasgow but now living in Manchester and he warned me to never go to an Old Firm game at Ibrox as it is the most poisonous, intimidating atmosphere you will experience Likewise for them at Parkhead.


Now transfer that to Windsor Park,Dalymount or Turners X and it would just be chaos.

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Originally posted by Soko
I for one think this would be an absolute disaster. They are not as good as us for a start and travel costs would be catastrophic for the smaller clubs. Would a second division be started with the increased number of teams? If so I wouldnt even punish somebody by going to watch that rubbish. Look at the lower divisions in Scotland, they are an absolute joke.


Do we also want all that rubbish some of their teams would inevitably bring with them. No thanks. Look at this for an example: Linfield vs. Rovers - 20,000 crowd swelled by local nationalists and loyalist . Game over 2-1 to either side and there is a riot. Not what we would like to go to see at any game and would hardly be endearing for the popularity of the league.


Derry must be counting their lucky stars they managed to avoid that bog hole of a league.

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You haven't a clue what you are on about .... everything you are saying is all hear say and none of it is fact.

Second division ..... More than likely it would be regionalised and as you not punishing people, you are doing that already with the crap you are talking. And if you dont want a second division ..... JUST HOW WOULD YOU PROPOSE TO WORK IT OUT (i want an answer please)

"Look at this for example" ........... What do you mean example .... you have just singled out the most likely game where there would be trouble, that in my opinion is not a balancedc example and dont even try and tell me it is. Fool

It is all a forgone conclusion with you .... the end of the world type scenarios, the doomsday factor.

You are a muppet, blowing it all out of proportion, over reacting and it is fools like you that add to all the problems the league would encounter. You post almost welcomes the possiblity of trouble.

You are what this league doesn't need, not the added competition.

how exactly would a regional second division work? how do you handle promotion and relegation,

one regional team from each section promoted?
do relegated teams have to drop to their regional league?

it'd never work. it'd be unbalanced.

i think it's a no-go until you can prove that an all-ireland cup competition not only works but is a success. i'd be against it.

1) Belfast is actually closer than Derry to all Premier clubs apart from Longford. Distance wouldn't be a problem.

2) Linfield-Rovers would be a flashpoint match, but if we were getting crowds of 20,000 I don't think we'd need to worry about the adverse publicity that much.

3) They wouldn't drag the standard down, we're 5 not 25 places ahead of them in the uefa rankings.

i've pushed this idea before and I still think that its the best way forward. A cup competition first would be a good trial run, and if its successful a league would definitely be a runner.

there was an idea pushed on this in the Irish League forum: here

Have a look at the ideas- some good ones in there.

As a Derry man i would love to see an All Ireland league, its the only way we will ever play Linfield and Glentoran again (Because we would never go back to that hell hole namely the Irish league).

Unfortunately, being a realist, and being from the North its still not safe enough for these games to take place. I could just picture SRFC fans going into East Belfast or Portadown in numbers (although they seem to agree with us being labeled British recently ?? ;) so they may be ok.

Nah seriously i for one dont want to travel next to near these sectarian holes in the near future, maybe a cup to start with to test the water ???

when sligo played linfield a few years ago there ws such troulbe at the sligo game that the return leg was played behind closed doors in cardiff, do we really want that sort of thing on a weekly basis ????

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Originally posted by dortie
Unfortunately, being a realist, and being from the North its still not safe enough for these games to take place. I could just picture SRFC fans going into East Belfast or Portadown in numbers (although they seem to agree with us being labeled British recently ?? ;) so they may be ok.

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If the North isn't safe enough for these games to takeplace than how come Cliftonville and Newry manage to play every week ?

What's all this ''recently'' lark, we've been singing ''you're Brits and you know you are for years ?

Also I think you'd be more OK than us being the ''no-tricolours'' club according to ILF ;) Hope you weren't too offended by the several such flags on display Friday.

How many fans do Cliftonville bring to these games ??? Not many, the main reason there is little trouble, its when you have larger numbers of travelling fans when **** happens, especially ones who have no fecking idea where they are !!!

As for your 'Brits' chanting, im fully aware that this has been your favorite piece with us through the years, but its become more frequently used recently....?? Is SRFC more FG these days ;)

You may be right about the Tricolours, we dont see the need to show our colours in the Brandywell anymore, after all the Brandywell is in 'Free' Derry...!!!!

And finally i was quite impressed with your show of our national flag on Friday, very good for a bunch of FG followers :p

we dont need the north plain and simple. the only reason this is being mooted is because the irish league is dying while the el is being re-born. el teams have progressed immensely in recent years and are on a par technically with the nordic teams (sweden, norway and denmark). A few seasons of summer soccer will see our results in europe improve dramatically which will lead to increase investment in the league. this will not happen if we join with the north as security concerns and bad press will scare off crowds and investors.
i think everyone here is in agreement that the el has been improving so why would we want to risk that improvement by joining with a weaker, semi-professional league?
i think the best suggestion for the league is to bring relegation into the equation regarding the first division. some form of pyramid system has to be introduced into irish soccer - perhaps six regional league systems that incorporate every soccer club in the republic (and i mean every club) - the winners of these regional leagues play off as a home/away cup tie against each other producing 3 teams to be entered a cup semi final with the team that placed last in the first division. the winners of this go into the first division for the next season.

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Originally posted by dortie
How many fans do Cliftonville bring to these games ??? Not many, the main reason there is little trouble, its when you have larger numbers of travelling fans when **** happens, especially ones who have no fecking idea where they are !!!

And finally i was quite impressed with your show of our national flag on Friday, very good for a bunch of FG followers :p

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Being serious for a second I've always thought that that would be theway to go, limit travelling support to say 100-150 all-ticket and require people to show their season ticket and/or SC membership before buying a ticket for the game. What do you rckon yourself. If Cliftonville, Lurgan Celtic and your mates at OUS can go to Windsor, Seaview and the Oval in the first round of the Irish Cup with no trouble ...

Your right the only thing that would work would be away support getting tickets through means of season tickets and supporters clubs. This might prevent the bandwagon troubler makers attending, but i still believe there would be serious potential for trouble, a neutral ground might work however.

To be honest im all for a cup competition to test the water but i still would be reluctant to go to Windsor park etc

Im happy away from those gob****es

i still think that distance is a problem,

cork city could well do without an extra six to eight trips north every season, and what about the first division clubs, cobh and limerick will never afford away trips to the north. while it's nice to be inclusive i think the league is heading in a good direction and doesn't need to be dragged down by the IL.

LOI clubs don't need the expense that extra travelling and policing of grounds would bring.

That's three clubs out of how many ??

Many of course there would be stuff that needs ironing out ..... but can i ask you a question first.

How many away games have you been to this season so far ?

Also City are flying ot alot of games this season so it is not a travel thing for us.

Why are you soo worried about Limerick and Cobh all of a sudden ??

i have been to no away game this season, not a one, nada. then again i haven't been to any home games either, not a one, nada.
the reason for that is that i am currently living on the west coast of the states, look at my location. hope you can forgive me ;)

i'm worried about limerick and cobh because i think an all ireland league would see us lose those two clubs, they couldn't afford it. i think city and waterford would be hard pressed to keep pace with dublin clubs with the added expense of an all ireland league. it does cost money to move twenty five people to belfast six times a season (especially if you are flying).

while the IFA and FAI remain separate institutions this isn't happening, it'd be a power struggle where the clubs would be the losers. ther's too much politics involved. i too think that this idea is being touted because the IL is in decline and the EL is undergoing a facelift and a slight resurgence.

in previous posts i've said that until an all ireland cup competition can be shown to work successfully from a financial, safety and entertainment point of view (i.e. a series where it's not four LOI teams in the semis after the IL teams have been roundly thrashed) the league idea should be shelved. i think that's perfectly logical and reasonable, two traits that are lacking in arguments for the proposal, which to me seems idealistic but unmanageable.

to finish, don't question my loyalty to city (or the LOI)just because i don't agree with the proposal.

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Originally posted by tiktok
to finish, don't question my loyalty to city (or the LOI)just because i don't agree with the proposal.

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C'mon ... dont be silly .... i didn't say that at all.

Have a read of this !! .... it was written a while back.

Man ... I am only asking you to be open minded. Other clubs would also have to travel down. And other leagues have funds set up for clubs in similar situations, we could do something like that. It is only a problem is you make it one.

On the political side of things ........ Hockey, Tennis, Rugby and GAA all have merged (there are alot more codes have done the same aswel) I dont want to run head long into anything, i would be like yourself and want to see some sort of competition running sucesssfully first aswell. That doesn't bring me to condem it at every turn.